Quasi-Geostrophic Turbulence

I. F-Plane

Below are images of the potential vorticity field for a computation on
an "f-plane", i.e. rotation with constant Coriolis parameter, at a
resolution of 320^3. One sees that starting from random initial
conditions, the fluid self-organizes into coherent vortices. These
vortices subsequently advect each other, merge to form larger
vortices, and align vertically.

II. Beta-Plane

Below are images of the potential vorticity field from a simulation
on the "beta-plane", i.e. with linear latitudinal variation in the
Coriolis parameter, at a resolution of 256^3. The coherent vortices
now grow through merger and alignment until they reach the scale where
the beta-effect becomes important, at which point dispersive Rossby
waves are excited, destroying the vortices and producing horizontal
jets.